Digital Marketing is a continuously evolving process and is often about who aces the field in competition. Making the product stand out and distinguishing oneself from the competition is a challenge. While the toolkit of Digital Marketers primarily included well-placed ads and cool videos in the early days of the internet, customer expectations around transparency and authenticity have increased, thus requiring a new set of skills and tools.

Knowing which channels to use, what messages to send, and how to convey them – the questions are endless. In need of some inspiration? Here are five of the most successful digital marketing campaigns and what you can learn from them.

1. Apple’s Pandemic-Era Work-from-Home Thing

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted most aspects of our lives. Apple’s campaign is nicely designed around our new reality, in which parents and children work, eat and play at the same table while also trying to organize a team around a challenging project deadline. It funnily depicts the messy reality most of us live while also getting in a few laughs. The lesson we can learn from this campaign involves storytelling. Having a story that inspires an emotional response is more likely to go viral and lets people positively engage with the brand. Allowing the customer more time to become engaged with the brand can be good, and you can get out the message in the end. Learn more about Digital Storytelling and why it matters.

2. Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

This campaign targeted women directly, as Old Spice had analyzed that women were their best hope for reversing the downward trend in their sales numbers. Having close to 60 million views on YouTube, this hilarious marketing video kick-started an integrated digital presence with various other marketing measures, including social media profiles, additional commercials, and the “Make a Smellmitment” tagline on their website. By spreading their topics across all channels, they provided the most value from the content created and reached many new customers, ultimately boosting sales.

3. Nike’s Just Do It

Being the trademark of shoe company Nike, the “Just Do It” slogan nowadays is a core component of Nike’s brand. It was coined in 1988 and allowed Nike to boost their North American domestic sport-shoe business from 18% to 43% from 1988 to 1998. Worldwide sales increased in the same period from $877 million to $9.2 billion. The slogan was such a massive success only because people could relate to it as it is universal and personal while being short and simple at the same time. “Just Do It” expressed the audience’s individual interests, goals, and aspirations, while also catching a feeling and lifestyle that allowed Nike to build a community. Social media channels are a good way to publish content that ties with the audience’s philosophy and your own core values.

4. Oreo’s Proud parent

Oreo has ruled social media since starting out in 2013. A combination of tweets, posts, images, and films touching on culturally relevant topics has proven to be a success factor in the social media factor. The proud parent film was launched to show alliance to the LGBTQ+ community and bolsters OREO’s belief that a loving world starts with a loving home. Sending out such a strong message inspires not only a new wave of support from proud parents and LGBTQ+ allies but also generates lots of positive brand awareness. Hence, the focus does not be on the brand to get brand attention. Find out more here to learn more about the positive effects of video marketing.

5. Always’ Like a Girl

Always’ campaign combines many of the aspects pointed out above. It is motivational, conveys authenticity, and relates to many people. Targeting the topic of social genders and how girls’ confidence takes a nosedive once they hit puberty is the first step to potentially changing the world. In combination with their hashtag #LikeAGirl, they continuously spread awareness and inspiring messages to women worldwide. Besides many other points, the use of hashtags is one very useful tool to track campaigns and build a community.

These examples are designed to help raise the bar and inspire your Digital Marketing campaigns. Start today with your campaign and Just Do It!